Monday, June 22, 2015

On the Trial of the Century that Never Was

The federal government wanted desperately to try Jefferson Davis for treason and to hang him high. But it never happened (this, despite the fact that numerous prosecutors examined the evidence, case-law, etc. - looking for something, anything), and the reason that it never happened was because it would have necessitated that secession itself be put on trial and they knew that this would have been a huge loser for them............................................................................................Of course, they had to save face and in order to do that they came up with this pathetic double jeopardy argument which stated that couldn't try Davis for treason because they had already nailed him on the lesser charge of insurrection (the penalty for this simply being that he could no longer run for office - immaterial in that the Republicans had already installed their puppets in the south)..................................................................................................Look, I'm not saying that Davis was any sort of hero here (it was an era bereft of heroes, frankly). But the fact of the matter is that secession was never considered controversial until Lincoln came along (Abe Lincoln himself once having said that it was legal) and the fact that this trial never took place says volumes, now doesn't it?

To charge Davis with treason, eg. "taking up arms against his country" would havelogically required most of the population of the Confederacy be open to the samecharge. As for war crimes, Davis operated as honorably as any other politician,north or south. A third reason may have been why drive a stake into a defeatedpeople and exacerbate a segment of the population already aggravated by the carpet bagger movement and steeped in frustration bordering on hostility?